|
DOHA, Qatar -- Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has told ESPN that the Football Association (FA) has made an "incredible" decision to schedule FA Cup fourth-round replays during the Premier League's two-week mid-season shutdown in February and said that players are being compromised by a lack of communication between top clubs and football's authorities. Premier League leaders Liverpool are due to play their 56th competitive game of 2019 when the face Brazilian side Flamengo in the FIFA Club World Cup Final in Doha, Qatar on Saturday. Klopp chose to field the club's Under-23 team against Aston Villa in Tuesday's 5-0 Carabao Cup quarterfinal defeat due to fixture congestion preventing Liverpool from playing the game once they returned from Qatar. But with FA Cup fourth-round replays due to be staged on Feb. 4 and 5, Klopp has told ESPN that Liverpool will have their planned Premier League break between Feb. 1 and 15 interrupted if they beat Everton in round three and then draw a potential fourth-round tie. "The problem that we have is the Premier League have decided we have a winter break and the FA decided the re-game [replay] if you have to play, if you draw in the fourth round, you play the re-game in that week," Klopp said. "It's incredible. It's just in the winter break. Right? That's when they set the game. "Ok, how is that possible? Nobody speaks about these things. I really don't understand that. "The problem we have now is nobody speaks enough. We don't speak enough to each other so the Premier League, the Football League, the FA, UEFA, FIFA, everyone is planning their own things and nobody follows that so there is no common schedule for everybody. "Look at that. They are the games, we can't do more games." After being informed of Klopp's concerns, the FA told ESPN that every effort will be made to be flexible and ensure that all Premier League clubs benefit from a full two-week break, with the potential of a fourth-round replay being moved to a later date in the calendar. - ESPN Premier League fantasy: Sign up now!
- When does the transfer window reopen?
- Premier League winter break: All you need to know "The FA has worked hard to ensure the introduction of a winter break for Premier League clubs this season," an FA spokesperson said. "Clubs will either be given a free weekend on Feb. 8 and 9 or Feb. 15 and 16. "We will work with the Premier League and the clubs to ensure every team gets its winter break. " Liverpool could end this season with five trophies, having already won the UEFA Super Cup, if they win the Club World Cup, FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League. But Klopp insists the top players are now being exposed to too many games. "Look, everybody agrees that we need a winter break," he said. "So good, done, now we have a one-week winter break. "For the international players, it's the only week in the year where we now know that these people -- which they are first and foremost, these humans -- have the possibility to do something with their family or whatever. Three, four days here, five days there, whatever. "It sounds like I don't like what I do, but I do. I love what I do, but I know we have two things that are very necessary. There are the players and training. "So you can only use the players when they have enough, when they rest sometimes. I know people think that if a player plays, trains two hours a day and plays one-and-a-half hours, that cannot be a problem. "Other people should try it, because we don't only play. We set our limits a little bit higher. "We try to do more and do it better and do it quicker and do that. That's like Formula One. At a specific speed, you have to use the brake. That's how it is, because there's a curve you have to use and stuff like this and that's in football the same. "We would improve this game immediately to the next level if we gave this. "We try everything -- we give them as much rest as possible, but somebody needs to help us with the schedule and so far that didn't happen. "The solution I really don't see at the moment. We just have to carry on."
|
